I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.

HIV/AIDS is the greatest danger we have faced for many, many centuries. HIV/AIDS is worse than a war. It is like a world war. Millions of people are dying from it.

I could not imagine that the future I was walking toward could compare in any way to the past that I was leaving behind.

It is a grave error for any leader to be oversensitive in the face of criticism

I have never regarded any man as my superior, either in my life outside or inside prison.

Ethiopia always has a special place in my imagination and the prospect of visiting Ethiopia attracted me more strongly than a trip to France, England, and America combined. I felt I would be visiting my own genesis, unearthing the roots of what made me an African.